Online M.Ed. in Biology Education

Total Cost M.Ed. in Biology Education
Total Tuition 34 semester credits x $235 per credit	$7,990
Fees $50 Application Fee $100 Conferral Fee $1360 Technology and Library Fee (34 Semester Credits X $40 per Credit)	$1,510
Total Program Cost	$9,500^*

BIOL5203	Foundations of Integrated Biology	3 Semester Credits
This foundations course in biology explores pollution as an example of a modern-day problem, one in search of a solution. Approaching pollution as a failure in systems, this course guides students in analyzing pollution and its ecological impact, human interactions and every-day phenomena, disruptions in cellular structure, and going green and attempts to repair the damage.
BIOL5303	Systems of Biology	3 Semester Credits
Biological systems exist from the smallest cells to the biosphere and beyond. As a way to define order and organization, students identify characteristics found in repeatable patterns which predict interactions between systems and their environments. Utilizing a universal view of various systems as they relate to current biological problems, students diagnose potential issues and explore ways to solve problems while determining what and how various forces are influencing the overall system.
BIOL5313	The Forces of Biology	3 Semester Credits
Forces act upon the biosphere and its diverse lifeforms, from the flow of water to fields of growing corn. At the cellular level, living “machines” use mechanical forces – push, pull, and resistance – to complete their tasks. Understanding the interaction of these forces generates deeper awareness of the possibilities and limitations of the underlying systems. By examining principles of biological and environmental science, learners identify evidence to support models for sustaining the diversity of life on Earth.
BIOL5323	Practical Biology	3 Semester Credits
The everyday task of living brings biology into the practical. Through the use of measurement and the interaction of energy, problems in biology are examined as they relate to distribution, complexity, and evolution. The ability to understand how energy and matter are related establishes a cause-and-effect relationship essential to understanding reactions and interactions within living organisms. Using a model-based inquiry approach, learners investigate concepts such as metabolic activity, abiotic factors, and competitive systems.
BIOL5333	Levels and Layers of Biology	3 Semester Credits
This course explores the formation of natural structures and how these form levels dependent upon the density and type of matter. In a similar fashion, man-made structures are dependent upon the relationship between the properties of materials and how those materials are expected to function. By processing information about structure and form, learners examine how the shape and substructure of objects and living things can create layers of complexity.
BIOL5343	Atmospheric and Ecological Biology	3 Semester Credits
Change is evident across time. Using atmospheric and ecological biology as a backdrop, this course explores a variety of issues of scientific interest and social relevance that are transforming life on Earth today. Among the issues are climate change, the greenhouse effect, pollution, deforestation, and the ozone layer. The course also explains the conditions that make life possible, including the potential for life on newly discovered Earth-like planets.
ED5253	Cognition and Critical Thinking	3 Semester Credits
This course examines cognition, specifically the psychological processes of how individuals think and remember as applied to developing judgment and reasoning throughout the learning process. This course will also explore critical thinking as a process reflective of Bloom’s Taxonomy incorporating active learning by formulating ideas, gaining knowledge and comprehension, making appropriate applications, and moving into higher levels of learning through analyzing, evaluating, and creating.
ET5053	Design of Learning Environments	3 Semester Credits
Learners apply psychological theories and instructional design models and principles to a continuum of learning environments, including face-to-face, blended, and online. They demonstrate the ability to manage and adapt learning experiences and instruction to each environment by emphasizing inclusion and collaboration, identifying and analyzing learners and learning tasks, goals, objectives, and assessments. Learners develop products in which they establish learning expectations, promote student-instructor and studentinstructor interactions, determine instructional strategies and appropriate materials, and design formative and summative evaluations. Cybersecurity and cyberbullying are addressed within the context of effective learning environments.
PES5091	Capstone Experience for Professional Education Studies	1 Semester Credits
The Capstone Experience is designed for candidates to demonstrate and document the impact of their knowledge and competencies gained throughout and as a result of studies related to the various Professional Education Studies programs.
RES5153	Research Methods	3 Semester Credits
This course enables students to become informed consumers of research and to develop skills to prepare them to carry out action research in their professional organizations. An emphasis is placed on providing students with knowledge they can apply in determining whether particular research findings are relevant to their leadership and instructional practices and to distinguish between trustworthy and non-trustworthy research. The course places action research within the context of various types of research and examines research in terms of basic concepts and various purposes, methods, data, and paradigms. Emphasis is placed on how research can become a vital and relevant tool for professional practice.
TECH5103	Online Learning and Teaching	3 Semester Credits
Students will compare theories of teaching and learning with applications to online instruction. Content includes emerging technology and use of Open Educational Resources.
TECH5113	Creating Online Collaboration and Communities	3 Semester Credits
Students will critique research on social presence and best practices for connecting online with students or colleagues, as well as best practices for social media use within education organizations.